After a few years of (musically) diminished returns, ATEEZ climbed back on my radar in 2025 by attempting new sounds that injected a sense of freshness to their formula. Both of last year’s Korean title tracks and their Japanese single made it onto my year-end countdowns, re-igniting my curiosity for where they might take their music next. New track Adrenaline boasts a promising title, but does it fuel actual adrenaline or is this a case of false advertising?
The answer is — frustratingly — a mix of both. As the song opens, its brisk verse seems to promise a call to the dancefloor. The pre-chorus offers a palpable sense of build as the scope grows bigger and bigger. But then, Adrenaline fumbles as its arrangement collapses into a dull, thumping chorus that lacks an exciting or creative hook. For a song seeming to promise a shot of exhilaration, the end result is surprisingly leaden and not very fun. Adrenaline could easily succeed with an instrumental chorus, but the production here is beyond dull, as if the composers took a plug-and-play loop and copy/pasted without adding any personality of their own.
To make matters worse, the vocals on Adrenaline simply sound unpleasant. We all know ATEEZ can sing and shout in compelling ways, but their voices are slathered in so many effects here that the tones come across as needlessly dark and combative. I get that being yelled at pumps up a certain type of listener, but there’s a fine line between wild abandon and irritation. Without the kind of grand melodies that used to fuel their music, this feels like pomp and bluster for pomp and bluster’s sake. It’s all so… empty. We’re being commanded to party but the music itself thwarts that urge at every turn.
| Hooks | 6 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 6.75 |
Grade: D+
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Well, this is okay, it tried. Maybe it’s just me but sometimes the way they sing in this overly deep, affected tone sometimes grinds my gears as well (especially when lathered in Eden’s beloved vocal effects). The beat drop is also flimsy and doesn’t do much, and without a compelling hook (or any hook for the matter), its weakness shows even more. Sigh, I thought we were on a high given their strong 2025 singles run. xikers’ Superpower was a much better effort at this dancefloor style than this.
7.25 (6, 8, 8, 7) for me.
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Did it try, though? It certainly didn’t try to come up with a chorus. 😓
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Hey, you still gotta appreciate the effort, they just happen to give up after a minute though 😞💔
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can we at least get an 8.5 for fuck’s sake kpop??? tf is going on this year???
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Considering it’s holiday season in Korea so at least a good chunk of the industry will be in hibernation, Cortis threatens to release a song next week, and based on the comeback schedule this month, nothing seems too promising, I fear this month’s doomed too, might as well throw in our beloved Iiterniti girls and seal this year’s fate. (On a serious note, can we have someone like Fairy Mai make a surprise comeback and save us??)
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im PRAYING the WJSN 10th anniversary comeback song is not a treacly ballad but a return to their cosmic synth pop roots 😭🙏 save this month pls
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oh this is 2010s DOWN. I actually quite liked it. I’d rate it a little higher though but I still agree with your review.
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incredibly underwhelming chorus. The half assed chant at the end doesn’t help either.
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listened to the entire ep. What an incredible step down from the last comeback
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yeah this is a weird one, I kept waiting for one of the beat drops to make me wanna shake my ass and fill me with ACTUAL adrenaline like all the best EDM drop kpop songs can do with ease, but it never happened here. The BPM is so bizarrely slow and sludgy for a song that’s trying to hype you up this hard. I don’t mind the vocals much if they came along with production that legitimately turns a track into a headbanging mosh pit anthem, then they can scream all they want, but…this didn’t even try.
It kinda reminds me of Seventeen’s attempt last year at a club banger that also failed to make me feel anything like being in a club. Pretty weird how EDM and kpop used to be almost inseparable at one point, and now we’ve come to a point where producers can’t figure out how to make a song that fulfills the “dance” part of that acronym lol
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This one is much better than Thunder. Back then, I didn’t understand the hype for that single, but I do have a friend who’s a hardcore Carat and she keeps bragging every Seventeen’s song is a timeless masterpiece (smh).
TBH, I’m more of an Atiny and will still defend Adrenaline no matter how all of you bash about it.
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